Hi Everyone! A while back several of my coworkers told me about Dr. Berg and Dr. Fung. I started watching Youtube videos, plus buying audiobooks, ebooks, and cookbooks.
My first experience with keto got off to a good start. I was several weeks in and I wanted to start upping my carbs a little bit, but I ended up pushing myself out of ketosis. In hindsight, I was making a couple of mistakes. Snacking throughout the day was an issue. Overcomplicating my prep time and feeling like I was eating the same thing all the time. What I didn’t realize at the time was that a lot of people will post recipes that aren’t keto or they really push the boundaries. Probably the biggest problem was that I didn’t fully understand or accept that high fat could be good. It wasn’t a failure though, because I learned a lot.
My wife ended up getting into keto and she did REALLY well with it. I tried to get going again, but I really didn’t go all in. I may have gone to the edge of ketosis a few times, but couldn’t maintain it.
Then I went into about two or three months of a complete glucose spiral. I didn’t discover that I had tested as fully diabetic with an 8.0 A1C until this past weekend when I got some lab results that were delayed in making it to me from three months ago. My health started getting really bad, my stamina was at an all-time low, and I just didn’t want to be very active. Talking to my mom I told her that I was convinced that if I could figure out keto and intermittent fasting, I could get better.
Although I had studied a lot, I was struggling to commit to another attempt, to tie together all of the information, and not try to subtly do things my own way. Even with all I had pieced together, I realized that in my case I probably needed to go a step further.
I had promised myself that if I couldn’t make progress that I’d get some coaching or start looking at bariatric surgery which a lot of people around me have had amazing results with. Lots of people have pushed me towards bariatric surgery, but I did feel like I would be a good candidate. Even though I know people get amazing results with it, there are also complications. My bigger worry was that it wouldn’t really solve the root of my problem and I’d figure out ways to get large again.
A couple of weeks ago before my 3-month followup, I finally decided to get a coach and start trying. I’m not really very far along in terms of time, but this time around has gone a lot better for me. Jumping straight into the deep end with everything I learned this time, mostly from being so miserable and desperate for any progress, I started keto within a couple of days and then I decided to do something to push the boundaries and I began a 42-hour fasting cycle.
My coach didn’t push me to do this. I wasn’t able to follow up with her as fast as I would’ve liked due to work circumstances and after watching and reading the provided training materials, I wanted to see what would happen if I went all in. That way when we met, I would have some data to go on at the very least. I also wanted to see if the high-fat diet really made fasting easier.
Now I’m just over a week in. Fully in ketosis. There have been some headaches and a couple of rough spots along the way. Mostly though I’ve been ok. Within 3 days my energy level shot up. Where I would get winded going up and down a flight of stairs before, now I’m going up and down with lots of energy left over. My hunger pangs pass and are short-lived. I do use some training wheels for my fasts which are two cups of coffee a day with heavy cream.
This isn’t the first time I’ve ever fasted. I’ve done some juice fasts in the past. Plus, I’ve done some three or four-day water fasts. There was never really any great strategy behind it. At various points, I’ve dropped 25 or 30 pounds. I’ve also tried the calorie restriction and exercise thing with diminishing results. What I could never conquer was the intense cravings and sense of failure when I would give in.
In my case, I’m CERTAIN that getting a guide was the right thing for me. It’s not a comprehension issue so much as a check and balance, not to mention a personalized troubleshooting service. Plus, I don’t want to waste the money that I dedicated to coaching. I’m 100% convinced that either keto or fasting by themselves are great solutions. However, they are more powerful together.
My goal is to start a 7 day extended fast in a week or two, as long as I’ve corrected the couple of mistakes that I’ve been making. I would break my current 42-hour fast for a weekend before beginning a long fast and load up on fat. Also, I would probably use a couple of spoons of MCT oil on day two and three of an extended fast if I were hitting a wall.
Right now I’m excited that I completely felt better within 3 days of jumping into this thing and I’m still going strong just over a week since then. Not that there haven’t been ups and downs either. I found out several things that I need to change today. I’m going to work on incorporating a few things recommended by my coach immediately, then take it a day at a time.
My doctor is monitoring blood work and I have requested every recommended test in the dietary program that I’m in. Keep in mind I’m not going full-on cowboy on this journey and it’s not my first rodeo.